Speaking on Saturday’s Jonathan Ross Show the comedienne revealed that she could end up severely out of pocket at the expense of her comedy partner if the project doesn’t go ahead.

‘I have to do it now because I’ve threatened it a lot,’ she explained.

‘Joanna Lumley kept announcing it and saying “Yes she’s going to do it”, and then Dawn French on our radio show at Christmas said “I bet £100,000 that you don’t write it,’ so now I have to write it, otherwise I have to pay her £100,000”.’

Saunders also admitted to being nervous about the planned film, given the long-term success of Patsy and Edina on the small screen.

‘Once you’ve had a bit of success, the last thing you want to do is go and make a flop,’ she pointed out.

‘So the biggest fear in me is that it won’t be good enough…I’m really nervous about it.’

There had previously been rumours that Jennifer was working on the movie, with The Guardian quoting her as saying that she wanted it to be a ‘little summertime film’.

‘I’ve got some little pet projects that I keep tinkering away with. One of them might be the Ab Fab film, I don’t know,’ she said.

‘As we’re going into winter, a nice little summertime film seems rather attractive.’